


where do you run?

by cylobaby27



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Healing, M/M, Prostitution, dub-con, sex as a tool, taako angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 06:23:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11915031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cylobaby27/pseuds/cylobaby27
Summary: After Lucretia takes every memory of friendship, family, and value from Taako's life, things go downhill for everyone's favorite elf quickly. With no real magical ability and no one in his corner, Taako has to lean on what he does have-- his body.Years later, with the (re)discovery of friends that become family and a socially awkward grim reaper, Taako starts to heal.





	where do you run?

**Author's Note:**

> This fic contains an array of dub-con sexual situations. Though not explicitly described, the situations may be uncomfortable for some readers. None of the dub-con happens between Taako and any of the speaking characters in TAZ.

 

Taako has a stagecoach, a supplier, and an audience. He’s Taako, from TV, and he is so, so loved.

 

He is also so, so alone.

 

After four months on the road, he finds out that he has very little business sense. A childhood of taking care of himself with little regard for the consequences left him with few moral standards and no sense what to do when he actually has funds. Sizzle It Up with Taako starts off with a generous, anonymous grant that helps him establish himself just enough to build up an audience, but that money quickly drains away.

 

Even transmuting pheasants into plump ducks isn’t enough to fudge his ingredient costs, and each new venue requires a deposit that isn’t always earned back by the audience. The viewers who come love him (of course), and he’s gaining a base of fans across the country. If he could just get another flood of money, he could build things back up. Taako’s had a taste of the limelight, and now he needs to perform a quick triage on his operation or he’ll lose it all.

 

When he’s set to pay his bill in the Underdark, Taako finds himself short on the cash. For a long minute, Taako considers bolting, but the venue operator is holding his stagecoach hostage until he pays the rest of the fee. With a pair of burly half-orcs as muscle, the dwarf operator doesn’t seem like someone Taako can take out with a quick spell. Taako’s still a low-level wizard, and he doesn’t have the strength to take on the dwarf’s entire crew.

 

“Listen,” he says. Quietly, he tries to cast a spell to charm the dwarf, but it glances off him. “Listen,” he continues, changing tactics, “we must be able to come to some sort of arrangement. I’m _Taako_. From _TV_. You’re heard of me, right? You saw the reactions in the crowd here tonight. Your venue probably hasn’t been so active in months. Now, my fans need me in that coach tomorrow to make it to my next show. You wouldn’t let them all down over a measly few hundred gold, would you?”

 

The dwarf is unmoved. “Not my problem. You’re not leaving this town until you have the money.”

 

“Well, clearly, I _don’t_ have the money,” Taako responds. “Seems we’re at an impasse, hm? Let me go, and I’ll come back next month with the funds—plus interest.”

 

“I’m not in the business of giving out loans. Luckily for you, this is the Underdark. There are moneylenders on every corner. You have until dawn to bring me my money, or we’re taking your assets as payment.”

 

“That’s not fair,” Taako protests, but with a snap of his fingers the dwarf has him hauled away and thrown onto the street.

 

Taako dusts himself off and huffs. “Asshole,” he mutters.

 

Luckily, the dwarf was right. It doesn’t take him long to find a loan shark in this area of town. It’s a slum if Taako’s ever seen one, and the buildings are cramped like they’ve been squished together by a giant hand. The moneylender’s office is still open despite the late hour, and Taako isn’t the only person in the waiting room. He is, however, probably the only person there who is sober. He’d rectify that if he had any goddamn gold to spare.

 

Is this the end of the dream he’s been trying to make a reality? If he can’t even do this, what can he do? He’s alone, his magic is only useful for making stupid tricks with his food, and he doesn’t have a back-up plan. When he’s finally called back into the loan shark’s office, he’s twisted the lace at his sleeves into a crumpled mess.

 

The loan shark is a drow with slick white hair, dark skin, and a pin-striped suit that could have been painted on. It’s a tacky look, like he thinks he’s more of a businessman than his blood-sucking office implies. His pointed teeth gleam as he beckons Taako inside. He looks Taako over like he really is the shark his title suggests, like he’s hungry and eager. There’s a stack of coins on his desk, ready to be given away for the right promises.

 

For the second time in the night, Taako tries to cast Charm Person, but the spell doesn’t stick. From the drow’s expression, he notices the attempt and is amused. With a bright, cheesy smile, Taako lays out his dilemma. He needs at least a few hundred gold to pay off the venue owner so he can get to his next location, which promises a bigger crowd that will earn back the advance. He can feel his words tripping out of control, falling into the pattern of bullshit and bluster that he’s always relied on. “And that’s it! It’s easy. I’m the best bet you’ll have coming through these doors all night, my man. I have a brand, and it’s only going up from here. So I’ll just take those coins and be on my way.”

 

This dark elf is unimpressed.

 

“What’s to stop you from deciding not to pay me back? I don’t usually lend to travelers,” the drow says, raising a brow.

 

“We can figure out some sort of collateral I can leave with you,” Taako says. “You can have one of my favorite frying pans. Not my very favorite, obviously. I need Flash with me on shows. You understand.”

 

“If you had collateral worth the loan you’re asking for, you’d be selling that instead of crawling to me,” the drow points out.

 

“If I sell all my cooking tools, there won’t be a show,” Taako says stiffly. “How would you get your money back then?”

 

“I was thinking we could come to a different type of arrangement. A show of good faith.” Slowly, deliberately, the drow spreads his legs. “That pretty mouth has to be good for more things than fast talking. Am I correct?”

 

Taako freezes. Somehow, in all his years on his own, this has never come up in a situation where he’s had to really consider it. There have been hungry eyes on him, sure. He knows that he’s gorgeous. But he’s never had to sink this low to make ends meet. There’s always been another way, another out.

 

But it’s late into the night. His stagecoach is being held captive by a stingy dwarf. Sizzle It Up with Taako, his only chance at success, is at risk. If he cancels this next tour stop because he couldn’t find the funds, he’ll never make up the lost momentum.

 

No one in the world is on his side, and he’s desperate.

 

As he sinks to his knees under the desk with a careless smirk, he tells himself this isn’t so different from the sloppy hook-ups he’s had in bars over the years. This isn’t so terrible. If he ignores the rough hand in his hair and the filthy, degrading murmurs coming from the drow, he can almost pretend that’s true.

 

When he leaves the loan shark’s office, it’s with a bag of gold on his belt. He gives the drow a mocking salute before he closes the door, and walks away with all of the swagger he can muster.

 

Once he’s secured his stagecoach and is on the road again, finally alone with no one to see him, he lets his brittle smile fall.

 

#

 

After that, Sizzle It Up with Taako becomes more and more financially secure. Not only is he able to send the loan shark the money he owes him within a month (along with a note that reads ‘Maybe you can use this money to conjure a bigger dick, my dude. xoxo, Taako’), he’s able to hire an extra set of hands for the show.

 

Sazed is a hulking human male with cropped hair that emphasizes the scars he’s picked up during years of mercenary work. After fighting on battlefields for various lords, he’s looking for something quieter. Taako finds him at a bar looking for a work, and hires him on the spot.

 

Though he has no skill in the kitchen at all, Sazed handily takes over the physical tasks of managing the show. He drives the stagecoach while Taako naps or tests recipes, manages the crowds at the bigger events, cleans afterward, and helps lug around Taako’s steadily growing wardrobe.

 

Sazed is suitably awed by Taako, but unlike the fans it’s his job to keep away, Sazed doesn’t feel any need to hide the lust in his eyes.

 

Sometimes, when they’re on the road between gigs and Taako is craving the spotlight, he’ll put on one of his shorter skirts and waltz around their campsite, just to watch the appreciation on Sazed’s face. Taako knows he’s hot shit, but the reassurance is nice, and helps drive out the aching loneliness. It’s a safe bet. He’s Sazed’s employer, and the bodyguard wouldn’t risk getting fired for making an unwanted move.

 

Even when Taako doesn’t feel threatened, he likes having a plan. Sazed may be his bodyguard, but Taako can’t trust anyone completely.

 

One night after a great show, Sazed leans forward as though to kiss him. Taako ducks away quickly and changes the subject, voice flitting erratically like a bird flying from a predator.

 

As expected, Sazed doesn’t push the issue, but he does _sulk_. The appreciative glances turn bitter and aching. When the short skirts and crop tops make appearances, Sazed still looks, but instead of awe, there’s the sense that Sazed is looking at a toy he was promised that was then taken away from him. Taako catches him perusing a job board in a tavern one night two weeks later.

 

“Come on, Say-say,” Taako cajoles, pulling him back toward the bar. They have rooms booked upstairs, but were supposed to have a celebratory drink after the day’s successful show. The mood between them is less than celebratory, though. “You won’t find any jobs on there with someone like _me_. Don’t waste your time.”

 

“Maybe that’s what I need,” Sazed says, mood not lightening. “Someone not like you.”

 

“You wound me,” Taako says blithely, but there’s a buzz of panic growing inside of him. “I’m the best you’re ever going to get, bucko.”

 

“Do you even like me, Taako?” Sazed asks.  

 

“Lately, not so much,” Taako says. When Sazed’s expression grows sour, Taako hurries to add, “I’m married to the spotlight, my man. I can’t let my heart pull me any other way for long. It’s nothing personal. You know I can’t get attached.”

 

“I don’t need _attachment_ ,” Sazed says, staring down at the bar. “I just want....more.”

 

Taako could fire Sazed now and go find a new bodyguard. With the money Sizzle It Up has been making, he could afford it. But then he’ll potentially have to go through this with someone new, someone who doesn’t have that base level of respect for Taako that keeps him from trying to _take_ what he wants. Taako’s spent so long training Sazed for this position, and he knows exactly how to keep him around. He baited this trap himself. He just has to follow through.

 

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Taako asks, looping his arm into Sazed’s and pulling him toward the stairs.

 

Sazed doesn’t put up a fight, but he looks confused. “What do you mean?”

 

Taako drags him into the room he’s reserved and says, “I should have realized earlier. It’s hard to spend this much time around Taako and not want a taste. I can’t deny my favorite roadie one night. Just one night, though, right? Because of the ‘married to the job’ thing.”

 

“Just one night,” Sazed agrees. He backs Taako against the door and runs his hands up Taako’s waist. “You want this.”

 

“Sure do, bucko,” Taako says through a bright grin.

 

He doesn’t want this.

 

Sazed is rough, and only gets more so when Taako doesn’t complain. He whispers first about how attractive Taako is, and then berates him for being a tease for so many months when they could have been doing this. Then, the other words start coming, grunted insults that make Taako feel like dust.

 

Being called a whore during sex is only fun when you’re sure you’re not one.  

 

After they’re done and Sazed has fallen asleep, Taako slips out of bed before Sazed wakes up and goes to the other room they’d booked. The heavy flesh of Sazed’s arm over his waist was too suffocating to sleep with, and he’s having trouble controlling his breathing. Once he’s alone, he changes into a fresh set of pajamas that button all the way from his neck to his wrists, and feels a bit of control come back. The bruises are covered now, and there’s a layer between him and the world.

 

The tension eases for the next few weeks, but things grow uneasy again. Despite their agreement that it was only one night, Sazed clearly expects more, and grows belligerent when it doesn’t come. Taako sleeps with him twice more to keep him around. Sazed seems to think that their one night together every few months gives him a level of authority over Taako, which Taako has to cut back down.

 

He needs a bodyguard and stage manager, but he’s not going to risk Sizzle It Up just to keep Sazed around. The man can have access to his body at times to make him stop complaining, but the show belongs to Taako.

 

A few months later, it doesn’t matter.

 

Taako makes a tragic mistake, and the people of Glamour Springs start falling. The news catches up to them a few days later after they’ve run out of town. Forty people are dead, and it’s Taako’s fault.

 

Sazed leaves soon after, and Taako doesn’t even try to stop him.

 

#

 

After his dream of being a celebrity chef crashes and burns in a spectacular fashion, Taako is left trying to find what comes next. He needs to avoid the spotlight until he’s sure no one is going to come arrest him for mass murder, which cuts out most of his talents.

 

Luckily, Taako’s practice with transmutation magic for his show had made him more powerful overall. He’s been testing out some attack spells now he has the free time, and he thinks he could fend for himself against an attacker. He has a natural talent that he’s never needed to develop, but now that he’s on his own, he knows he needs ways to protect himself.

 

In the end, though, magic alone doesn’t solve his problems.

 

Taako answers an ad seeking a temporary wizard for a band of mercenaries. He’s been searching for work for almost two weeks now, but there aren’t enough people coming through the small town he ended up in that are hiring. His sticky fingers are getting ever stickier, but people are going to start to trace the missing goods back to the newcomer in town. He needs this job.

 

They meet at a rundown tavern, their bulky figures stacked around the table like mountains beside the willow tree of Taako’s smaller form. They just need an extra hand for their current mission, which is to guard a lord from Roccliff on his journey through the Blazing Barrens. Though Taako charms the crew with all of his ability, the leader is unimpressed. A broad dwarf with muscles like an ox and a jagged scar across his lips, the leader doesn’t seem like he’s impressed by much.

 

“Wizards are a dime a dozen,” the dwarf says. “You can make a magic missile? Great. So can every other wizard in town. Why you? This mission is going to bring in a lot of gold, and we’re not sharing it with someone who isn’t going to pull his weight. We’ve got another applicant coming soon. What have you got that he doesn’t?”

 

Taako is tempted to admit that he’s a chef—mercenary groups like this usually jump at the chance to have more palatable food than fried rodents—but the thought of cooking for anyone after Glamour Springs makes him queasy. Even these roughshod and rude mercs don’t deserve a horrible death by poisoning.

 

There’s a legacy Taako wants to leave this world, and it’s not a trail of bloated corpses.

 

He leans against the table and waggles his eyebrows at the broad dwarf. “Well, my man, that’s something I don’t usually whip out in public. But if you have somewhere private…?”

 

For a moment, from the way the dwarf’s goons react, he thinks he’s made a tactical error. He’s normally skilled at identifying anyone who’s had a single fantasy about another dude. If there’s even a slight bend of heteroflexibility, Taako knows he can be their exception.

 

However, the males that aren’t swayed by Taako’s ethereal looks tend to take offense at the very idea.

 

He’s planning an escape route out of the tavern when the dwarf laughs. “The pretty little elf thinks he has other skills? I guess I should give him a chance to prove himself.”

 

The blowjob in the tavern’s smelly, cramped bathroom is not the best Taako’s ever done, but he’s having trouble disengaging and letting it happen. The dwarf seems satisfied at the end of it, though, and Taako finds himself on a crew.

 

Twice during the journey, the dwarf calls Taako into his tent to follow up on the promised second set of skills. In return, Taako is safe from the rest of the mercenaries and gets a cut of the promised reward. It’s enough gold to fund him until he can find another gig, and he leaves the mercenaries without saying goodbye.

 

#

 

For the next few years, that is how it goes. The more Taako’s magical skills grow, the less he falls back on his physical beauty to entice employers. Though his range of magic is still narrow, his Charm Person spell becomes a specialty of his. It only lasts for an hour, and the consequences after that hour are severe if he’s caught, but he learns how to take full advantage of the time that he has.

 

Taako finds teammates who value him for his wizardry, rather than his thin elven form. He picks up the occasional attractive male at bars for a bit of fun, but he takes control of the encounters. When he’s on top, lowering himself onto someone, or when he’s pressing a larger man to his knees, things don’t feel as overwhelming. This can be for him too, not just another form of currency.

 

He doesn’t do it often, though.

 

Then, he meets a dwarven cleric and husky human fighter in Neverwinter, and they join together to escort the dwarf’s distant cousin to Phandalin. Things go to shit _real_ fast.

 

Magnus and Merle are more lighthearted than other crews Taako has traveled with, and they bond quickly while trying to prevent the destruction of Phandalin. They fail, but then they’re swept away to the moon and their group is cemented.

 

Taako is, for the first time since he can remember, part of an organization. They fight as a team, they room together, and they spend most of their time together.

 

It’s terrifying.

 

What if Taako decides that he wants to leave? Do they let people peace out and leave the moon base? What if—and this scenario is more likely—Merle and Magnus get tired of Taako’s high-maintenance bullshit and kick him off their team before he’s ready to go? On this moon base full of strangers, Taako’s best bet for safety is staying with his original group.

 

Merle seems mostly good for a laugh, but Magnus is a fantastic fighter. He’s exactly the type of person Taako likes to have firmly at his side, instead of fighting against. Though Taako knows he brings value to their group, he doubts that he’s the only person in the world who could act as their wizard. If Merle and Magnus want to get rid of Taako, the Director won’t have trouble finding another wizard to stand in as their third.

 

Taako needs to make sure that his place on the team is secure.

 

Though none of them have talked about their pasts, it’s clear that Magnus is an open, friendly sort of man. It’s easy to get him alone with only the vaguest pretense. A few days after the Trial of Initiation, Taako convinces Magnus to come back with him to their dorm room to collect something.

 

Magnus doesn’t even ask what they’re getting. He just continues chattering about the Director’s unfair rules against animals on the moon, letting Taako lead him into the quiet room.

 

It’s just them now. Magnus is even larger than Sazed had been, burly and scarred from years of fighting. So far, when they’re not in battle, he seems to be a gentle giant. Taako isn’t sure how that will translate here. He’s seen all types. It can be difficult to predict what a man is like once he has you alone, even if you’ve seen him in every other situation. But if he can get Magnus firmly on his side, then he’ll be safe. Give him a taste, and he’ll develop an addiction. He’ll keep Taako around.

 

Magnus is still talking when Taako waves a hand and makes the door shut and lock behind them.

 

“What’s going on, buddy?” Magnus asks, looking between him and the door. His shoulders are still relaxed, but his eyes are aware, looking around the room as though waiting for a trap. “Is something wrong?”

 

“Nothing’s wrong,” Taako says airily. “I just thought we could use some privacy.”

 

“Okay,” Magnus says, drawing out the word as though hoping to make sense of things by the time he finishes. From the look on his face, he doesn’t succeed. “Why?”

 

“I thought I’d say thank you for what you did during the ogre fight,” Taako says. He starts to unbraid his hair, giving Magnus a coy look from under his fringe. He’s seen Magnus glance more than once at him, but he wants to give them both a chance to back out if Magnus is opposed to the idea of getting intimate with another male. “You jumped through a glass wall to help me fight those things. That was really cool.”

 

“Uh, you’re welcome.”

 

“I _really_ appreciated it,” Taako says, approaching him so that there’s barely a breath between them.

 

“You’re welcome,” Magnus says again, and takes a step back.

 

Maybe he needs to be more blunt. “I just want you,” Taako continues, pressing a finger firmly into Magnus’s chest, “to know that I appreciate you saving my life. And that I have ways to pay you back.”

 

“You don’t have to pay me back,” Magnus says.

 

“Everyone wants to be paid back, my man,” Taako purrs.

 

Instead of alleviating Magnus’s sticky nobility, that stops the fighter in his tracks. He straightens up, no longer retreating from Taako’s advance. “No, they don’t,” he says firmly. “Taako, I saved you because you’re part of my team. We save each other. That’s what we do.”

 

“And I want to stay on your team,” Taako tells him, his seductive voice starting to falter. How dense is this guy?

 

“You’re already there,” Magnus says. “We destroyed an entire city together. We’re a team now. You, me, and Merle. You don’t have to prove anything else, you know? You don’t owe me anything.” When Taako inches another step closer, testing Magnus’s resolve, Magnus adds in a higher pitch, “I’m also very, _very_ not interested in sex. With you.”

 

Taako shrugs and steps back, taking off the seductive persona like a cloak. “I would have sworn you were at least a little bit flexible. No dudes for Magnus. Got it.”

 

“I mean,” Magnus says, flushing, “it’s not necessarily that either. I fall for what’s inside. And I already had my soulmate. I don’t want anyone else. I hope you’re not…disappointed.”

 

“No skin off my back, my man,” Taako says.

 

Magnus narrows his eyes. “You weren’t really interested in me.”

 

“I’m interested in everyone with a dick,” Taako says, redoing his hair. The braid can be done with magic, but he likes the rhythmic pattern of putting it back into place.   

 

“No, I mean, you weren’t really trying to seduce me,” Magnus says. “Or…if you were, you weren’t really into it.”

 

“I could have been for you, babe. You’re missing out,” Taako says.

 

“Taako…” Magnus says, and he sounds distressed.

 

“Fuck,” Taako says, startled. “This is bothering you.”

 

“No shit,” Magnus says. “Were you about to sleep with me just to thank me for not letting you get squashed by an ogre?”

 

“Obviously not just that, or I’d have to get on my knees for Merle too, and I have no plans on that front. Are clerics even allowed to have sex?” Taako wonders. “Listen, I made an offer and you said no. We’re square.”

 

Magnus, curse him, doesn’t drop it. “You don’t need to earn your way onto this team by sleeping with _anyone_ , Taako. That’s… that’s not okay. You’re a _really_ good wizard. We couldn’t have defeated Magic Brian without you. You don’t need to be anything else on top of that.” Magnus’s gentle, comforting expression hardens into something more like rage. “And if anyone tells you otherwise, they’ll have to answer to me. I don’t care who it is. If someone makes you feel like you owe them anything, tell me. You deserve better than that.”

 

“Sure, sure,” Taako says, tying off his braid and straightening his clothes. “Glad that’s settled. Let’s go.”

 

“I’m serious, Taako,” Magnus says.

 

“I wish you were a little less,” Taako says, almost desperate.

 

“Fine. I’ll drop it. But don’t forget what I said. You’re part of this team now. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

 

Taako avoids Magnus’s eyes for a few days, but the fighter makes a show of being as normal around him as possible. By the end of the week, Taako is back to making jokes laden with innuendo without worrying about sparking another conversation about his self-worth.

 

#

 

To Taako’s surprise, Magnus is right.

 

Over the next eight months, it becomes obvious that there’s no separating Tres Horny Boys. The Director values all three of them, and they’ve grown to work together smoothly as a team (except for all those times that Merle is _supposed_ to heal them but conveniently forgets or runs out of energy.) Even more surprising, Taako makes other friends at the Bureau, all based on his fighting merit and sparkling personality. He knows if he tries to manipulate and seduce any one of them, he’ll get his ass kicked and then forced to have a serious conversation about it.

 

Magnus made his stance clear. Merle is more interested in vines than in elves. Carey and Killian have eyes only for each other. NO-3113 is a robot. Angus is a child. The only potential person who might even be interested in him is Avi, but he treats Taako with a quiet respect.

 

Taako uses his charm and his appearance during missions when needed, but it’s never his only skill. And when he has other options, he’ll never turn back to that. His body is truly his own for what feels like the first time since he started Sizzle It Up with Taako, and he enjoys remembering what it’s like to wear what he wants, flirt without consequence, and handle his own shit.

 

That’s why, when he stumbles back into his room after their adventure in Refuge, he freezes when he sees Kravitz waiting for him.

 

The possibilities for this visit run through his head before he even comes to a halt.

 

He and his friends just died. A _lot_. Kravitz is here to collect. But why is he here in their common room, just steps away from Taako’s bedroom? He must want to negotiate. Why wait for Taako specifically? Taako did threaten to tentacle his dick, call him handsome several times, and flirt and mock in equal quantities.

 

If Kravitz is looking for an alternate arrangement, whether out of pity or a desire for revenge, Taako is the person to go to.

 

Kravitz clears his throat and explains why he’s there, and Taako has to make a decision.

 

His eyes flick to his bedroom door. He could nip this in the bud without needing to risk his friend’s lives—and the lives of everyone in Refuge—on his words. He knows how to get his way, especially with men who look at him the way Kravitz has looked at him.

 

This sucks. If this were another situation, if Kravitz didn’t hold the lives of everyone he’s grown to care about in one skeletal hand, Taako might actually _want_ this. Kravitz is attractive, and Taako had felt the tug of attraction when they’d first met. Not like this, though. He hadn’t wanted it to be like this.

 

But this is his home. He’s strong. He just saved an entire town full of people, overcame death dozens of times, and managed not to fuck up in the eyes of people like Ren and Angus who admire him.

 

He can do this.

 

Folding his arms, he says, “Come on, is this really the best place to talk about this? I just got back from my mission. I still smell like the desert, and I haven’t taken a bath in the metaphysical equivalent of weeks.” _Shit_ , even his deflections sound like come-ons. “So I’m going to go do that, alone, and you’re going to come back in a few days so we can talk about this like civilized folks. Okay?”

 

For a moment, he’s not sure Kravitz will agree, but then the bounty hunter nods. “I’ll connect you to my Stone of Far Speech,” he says. “Let me know when and where. But Taako—if you don’t follow through, I’ll have to come back on my own.”

 

“Don’t you worry, my man. I want this settled as much as you do.”

 

Within a few minutes, Kravitz is gone again, leaving Taako alone.

 

#

A few days later, they go on a date to the Chug n' Squeeze and it's...great. Kravitz, despite his imposing figure, is delightfully awkward, and Taako enjoys pushing him into blushes.

 

At the end, when Kravitz awkwardly asks whether there was more to the night than business, Taako agrees. It doesn't seem to cross Kravitz's mind that the two streams could cross, that if this had been a year earlier he could have gotten the negotiations with a side of Taako, and that's endearing.

 

Though they've just been discussing the fates of Taako and an entire town, Kravitz doesn't _expect_ anything else from Taako. And that's why Taako wants to give it to him.

 

He's moments away from grabbing Kravitz for a kiss, since this awkward man doesn't seem ready to take the initiative, when Kravitz is distracted by a dark force and disappears.

 

Taako's disappointed.

 

Over the next few weeks, though, as Taako leaves steadily more suggestive messages on Kravitz's Stone of Far Speech, part of Taako is glad they couldn't go further during that first date.

 

For once, he has the chance to get to know someone he's attracted to without falling into bed with them immediately. Taako learns that Kravitz has an adorable laugh, though he's embarrassed by it. Taako makes it a mission to hear it as often as possible.

 

One night, Kravitz's voice is slow and distracted while they chat, and then he confesses that he hates his job sometimes.

 

"I know why I do it," he says quickly. "The Raven Queen has to maintain the balance of life and death. There can't be exceptions."

 

"Besides me," Taako interjects.

 

There's a long-suffering sigh, but it's affectionate. "But in the center of the bowl," Kravitz says, using Taako's pitiful pottery metaphor, "things have to continue their cycle. I can't let souls slip through the planes. They never understand why. I don't mind when they fight, but when they cry..."

 

"You're a softie," Taako tells him.

 

"I'm their villain," Kravitz says. "Sometimes I think they're right."

 

"Krav, my man, not only is your job badass and sexy, but it's important," Taako says. "I could never do what you do. I'm all about the exceptions. But there are rules to the natural order, and it takes a special kind of dude to enforce them. No one wants to die. It's impressive that you can understand that, have compassion, and still do your job."

 

"It never bothers you? What I do? I tried to kill you and your friends when we first met. I took your friend's arm."

 

"Listen, cupcake, if I only made friends with people who have never tried to kill me, I'd have basically no friends. You were just trying to do your job, but you weren't heartless once you actually gave us a chance to explain. You're a good dude. Also, you're smoking hot. That can make me forgive a lot."

 

"There's no reason to try to make me blush. You can't see me."

 

"I can hear it in your voice," Taako tells him. "Besides, I'm not saying anything that's not true."

 

#

 

Then Taako's team gets sent into Wonderland, which quickly goes from the coolest place Taako has ever been to the absolute _worst_. Even after there's a washing machine dropped on him and evil liches sap the suffering from him, he's not given a chance to breathe before Magnus drops the Red Robe bombshell. Then it's a devastating trip to Memory Town, a too-quick reunion with Lup, a short kiss with Kravitz (Taako really wishes their reunion had happened somewhere with a bed instead of during the apocalypse), and then Taako has to save the entire universe.

 

When the Hunger is finally—finally—gone for good, Taako goes back to his room and closes the door. They’re still on the moon base until they figure out what comes next, and all Taako really cares is that his family is safe nearby and there’s a bed _right there_. He sleeps for an entire day. Then he calls Kravitz.

 

The bounty hunter must have been waiting with his Stone of Far Speech in hand, because he answers immediately. "Taako," he says. There's so much affection and pleasure and awe in the one word that Taako can barely handle it.

 

"Bone Daddy," Taako drawls. He's still in bed, and he stretches idly. "We saved the universe."

 

"You did," Kravitz agrees.

 

"I saved the entire universe, and I still haven't gotten my reward yet."

 

"Saving the universe isn't its own reward?"

 

"That's the universe's reward. I want a personal treat. Something that I've been wanting for a long time, and finally have the time to enjoy."

 

From his tone, Kravitz seems to be picking up Taako's hints, but he's still cautious when he says, "What is it?"

 

"Your big spectral dick," Taako says. "Get that fine ass here pronto."

 

A rift opens in the air in the center of the room, and Kravitz stumbles through. He's in his humanoid form, buttoned up to the collar and out of breath. He takes in Taako's form with wide eyes.

 

Taako, wearing only a silk robe, stretches languidly against the sheets and blinks up at him in the most seductive way he knows.

 

"You know," Taako says, "I sort of expected you to show up earlier."

 

"I wanted to give you some space. You did just save everything. Besides, I wasn't sure... I mean, you're going to have every person in the planar system interested in you now. I just wanted you to be sure."

 

"Darling, everyone has always wanted me. I'm Taako. I told you-- I'm choosing you." He feels his ears flick self-consciously, but he presses forward. "Do you want me?"

 

"With all of me," Kravitz says, and finally joins Taako on the bed.

 

It is, hands down, the best sex Taako has ever had. He’s slept with a lot of men—sometimes for protection or profit, sometimes because he was lonely and bored, sometimes just to catch some pleasure—but this is the first time he’s truly, deeply cared about his partner’s pleasure…and that they’ve cared about his.

 

Together in every moment, Taako and Kravitz finally explore each other. Over the next few hours, it’s fast and new, then slow and worshipful, and then celebratory and joyous. They can’t keep their hands off each other. At first, Taako takes control, because that’s all he’s ever done when it’s been his choice. But then Kravitz slowly pulls him down and asks, quietly, desperately, if Kravitz can fuck him, Taako can’t say no. But, as Kravitz eases inside him, Taako realizes this isn’t fucking. This is what it’s like to be made love to.

 

He feels like he’s being taken apart from the inside out, but Kravitz is always there to catch him when he shatters.

 

When they’re finally both too exhausted to keep going, Taako drapes himself fully over Kravitz and sighs. The bounty hunter’s chest is slightly warmed from all the activity, but it still feels lovely and cool against Taako’s sweaty skin.

 

“Gold star,” Taako murmurs.

 

Kravitz huffs a laugh. “Happy to be of service,” he says.

 

“I’m glad we both survived the apocalypse. It would have been a tragedy if that had never happened.”

 

“I’d argue that there would have been other downsides to one of us dying... but I’m inclined to agree with you right now. I’ve wanted this for so long.”

 

“Me too,” Taako says, snuggling in even closer.

 

That’s when the door bursts open.

 

“Taako, you’ve been in here for almost twenty-four hours and you weren’t answering your—Shit! Fuck! My eyes!”

 

Taako groans and rolls to face the intruders. Merle and Magnus stopped just inside the doorframe, and are now looking everywhere in the room but at Taako and his companion. “This is what happens when you barge into someone’s bedroom, numbnuts,” Taako says. “Go away.”

 

“We were worried you had a concussion or something you forgot to tell us about! Even you don’t usually sleep this long. Lup would kill us if we let something happen to you while you’re still our roommate.” Magnus is staring intently at the ceiling.

 

“There is a sheet involved here, you know,” Taako says. “You’ve seen me in less than this. Stop being a priss and get out of my room.”

 

Magnus glances down, and then stills. “Is that _Kravitz_?”

 

Kravitz, falling back into his awkward nerd default, says, “’Ello, Magnus.”

 

“Stop with the accent, oh my god,” Taako says, shoving him lightly.

 

Magnus and Merle don’t seem amused. “What is he doing here?” Magnus demands.

 

“What does it look like?” Taako asks.

 

Gritting his teeth, Magnus says, “After everything we’ve done to save the universe… Kravitz, you don’t get our souls, and you definitely don’t get to force Taako to make a deal with you.”

 

Taako sits up, wrapping the sheet more tightly around his waist. Now, finally, he feels self-conscious. “This isn’t about—”

 

“I don’t know who you think you are, Kravitz, but Taako just helped save _everybody_. He doesn’t owe anyone anything. Especially not you.”

 

“I didn’t force Taako into anything,” Kravitz says, voice still painfully formal. He pulls away from Taako and stands up. His usual dark clothes wrap around him in a wave of magic, and he looks poised and intimidating. “I don’t appreciate your insinuations against me, but to accuse Taako of that? Have you _met_ him? This is the wizard that traveled with you for one hundred years to save us all. You think Taako does anything he doesn’t want to do?”

 

There’s a beat of absolute silence. Magnus is still furious, Merle looks as concerned as his haggard face can show, Kravitz is baffled, and Taako is _mortified_.

 

Then, Kravitz looks down at Taako. “You…wouldn’t have,” Kravitz says, but he seems like he’s trying to convince himself.

 

This is getting out of hand. “Magnus, Merle, get the fuck out,” Taako snaps. “This is voluntary and fun. I’ve been dating him for weeks. I didn’t tell you because I _knew_ you’d do some shit like this.”

 

Magnus looks at the situation again, and then nods tersely. “Call us if you need us. We’ll be right outside.”

 

When they leave, Taako slams the door behind them with a forceful mage hand that nearly rattles the wood off its hinges. There’s a muffled protest from Magnus on the other side. Taako isn’t sure whether it’s because of Taako’s forcefulness or from concern for the door, but right now, Taako doesn’t care.

 

He looks up at Kravitz and smiles as brightly as he can. “Ignore them. That’s what I always do.” He reaches up a hand toward the bounty hunter. “Stop harshing my afterglow.”

 

“Taako,” Kravitz says slowly. “What was Magnus talking about?”

 

“Nothing, babe. Come back to bed.”

 

Kravitz looks angry and confused, which is such a harsh contrast to the lazy pleasure of the rest of the morning that Taako feels a physical pang. “Please. Tell me.”

 

“Listen,” Taako says, waving a hand. “Magnus is just a worrywart. He knows some stuff that I may or may not have done in the past where I may or may not have used my rocking body to get my way. I mean, can you blame people for wanting a piece of this?” He clears his throat. “I’ve always had to use the tools I have, bud.”

 

“But I saw you during the story and song,” Kravitz says. “I saw a century of your life. You wouldn’t do this with someone for any reason except wanting to. I saw what your sister can do in battle. She would never let you.”

 

“Well, Lup wasn’t always there, was she?” Taako exclaims. He’s feeling far too vulnerable on this bed. He stands as well and snaps his fingers, making a long skirt and blouse fall into place. “When Lucretia wiped my mind, she took my memories of my _power_ and of my _family_. I wasn’t the badass you saw in the story. I was _all alone_ and I had to work with what I had. It was just… It was just a thing. A thing that had to happen sometimes for me to survive.”

 

“That’s…” Kravitz looks horrified.

 

“You’re a goddamn skull half the time! Who are you to judge me? I did what I had to do, Krav. If you have an issue with that, deal with it on your own fucking time.”

 

“I’m not _judging_ you,” Kravitz says. “I’m upset that you had to go through that. I’m sorry that no one was there to help you. I’m sorry _I_ wasn’t there to help you.”

 

“You didn’t even know me yet.”

 

“That doesn’t mean I don’t wish I could have protected you,” Kravitz says. Then, if anything, he grows more stricken. “You know that my position on your souls has nothing to do with this, don’t you?” Kravitz says, gesturing between them. “I know our first date was technically… I showed up in your private quarters, and then you took me on a pottery date. Did you think this was what I was after the whole time? That this was all part of the original deal?”

 

“I wouldn’t…”

 

“From what you’ve just told me, it sounds like you would. I had already proven to be a threat, and I’m sure I wasn’t hiding how…attractive I found you.”

 

“It’s not like that with you!” Taako shouts.

 

“Please,” Kravitz says. “Please tell me that you’re not with me because you’re scared of me.” He looks absolutely wrecked.

 

Taako takes a deep breath and crosses the room. Though Kravitz stiffens at first, Taako pulls him into a hug and tucks himself under Kravitz’s chin. After a beat, Kravitz gently wraps his arms around him. “Krav, it was never like that with you. By the time we met, I had the boys in my corner. Even if you had wanted that trade, I wouldn’t have needed to make it. We proved in the Crystal Kingdom that I could have taken you on if I had to. I started dating you because I wanted to. Because talking and flirting with you was one of the first things that I could remember making me happy before I remembered my sister.”

 

Kravitz is starting to relax into the embrace.

 

Taako clears his throat. “I had to do what I needed to survive. I don’t want that to impact us. If it bothers you…”

 

“It makes me furious,” Kravitz says. “But not at you. Please know that I would never hurt you, Taako, and I would never want you to do anything that you don’t want.”

 

“Look around,” Taako says. “You’re a powerful dude, and that’s hot, but I can stand up for myself. I saved the entire world. And if I’m not up for it, I have at least ten people that I could call to come kill you with the snap of my fingers. I’m not alone anymore. And I want you.”

 

Kravitz crumples into him and holds him tightly. “You scared me,” he whispers. “I was so afraid I had…”

 

“You have to trust me, pumpkin. I’m in this because I want to be.” Taako pulls back and tugs on one of the dreads hanging over Kravitz’s face. “I do have some bad news for you, though.”

 

“What?” Kravitz asks.

 

“Now that the chuckleheads know about us, they’re going to want to meet you more officially. They’re my family too. I was trying to spare you from this, but it’s a reality of dating ol’ Taako. You think you can handle it? _Without_ the accent?”

 

“For you, I’d do anything,” Kravitz says.

 

#

 

“Um. Can you pass the syrup?”

 

The breakfast table is covered with plates from Taako’s anxious cooking spree, and now he and Kravitz are stuck sitting across from Magnus and Merle. When Magnus doesn’t move, Merle reached over him to grab the syrup and slid it toward Kravitz.

 

Kravitz accepts it gently and nods. When he takes a bite of the pancakes, he says, “Taako, this is amazing.”

 

“Thanks, sugar,” Taako says. It’s still nerve-wracking to cook for those he loves, but after the Temporal Chalice revealed that he hadn’t caused Glamour Springs, he had started practicing again.

 

“Yeah, Taako’s an amazing cook,” Magnus says, and it sounds like a threat.

 

Eventually, though, as the pile of food dwindles and the conversation comes easier, the boys seem to finally accept Kravitz. It helps, Taako thinks, how blatantly attentive Kravitz is to him. He never lets Taako’s mimosa glass get too low, and he keeps a hand on Taako’s knee under the table when it starts to bounce.

 

“You know,” Magnus says as they’re finishing up. “This was probably easy compared to what you’ll get from Lup when she finds out.”

 

“Lup already knows, you idiot,” Taako says. “What did you think she meant when she came out of the umbra staff and yelled at me for dating the grim reaper?”

 

“Oh,” Magnus says, stunned. “Well, I was still trying to understand how she had been living in your umbrella! Besides, you two had all sorts of weird in-jokes! How was I supposed to know she was being serious?”

 

“I knew what she meant,” Merle says sagely, taking a bite of a strawberry.

 

“No, you didn’t!” Taako accuses. “You were just as surprised as Magnus this morning.”

 

“No, no, I’ve known all along,” Merle insists. “I have an eye for that sort of thing.”

 

“Just the one,” Taako says.

 

As they continue to bicker, Taako leans against Kravitz and steals a forkful of pancakes from his plate, though he has a stack on his own. Kravitz lets him, and drops a kiss against his hair as he gets close.

 

From across the table, Magnus gives him an approving nod.

 

Taako flips him off and steals a piece of bacon off Magnus’s plate, just because he can.


End file.
